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Gdansk

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19-20/09/2023

We stayed in our shopping centre car park for 3 nights. Not the quietest of places at night as one store was having a refit, and they worked into the small hours. And of course, large expanses of tarmac just invite wheelies!  But it had a huge Auchan and a 30 min bus into the city centre. Oh, and it was free!  We would normally park further out or use campsite when visiting cities. But Poland just feels safer than most countries.

We caught the bus on visit 1 by the skin of our teeth. Expected to be able to buy the ticket from the driver. No, he wafted his hand over to the other side of the road to the ticket machine. Grr … it’s 30 mins till the next bus and he wasn’t going to hold the bus for us.  A passenger rummaged and offered us one of his tickets … 3 passengers helping with translations and checking J was free.  I recently read a post about Glimmer moments. When you are unexpectedly pleased, happy, grateful etc. This was a glimmer moment.   The next day had no glimmer. We missed bus 1. Got evicted from bus 2 as the jobsworth driver told us we needed a muzzle for Corrie. Not had to use one so far this trip. I fetched the torture apparatus just in time for bus No. 3! 

We were wowed by Tallinn. More so by Gdasnk. The mediaeval centre was largely bombed and burned in WW2 … the target being the ship yards. Instead of rebuilding as was, they went for Belguim / Dutch style.  And the buildings in the centre are taller than we’ve seen … 5 storeys. Making them more elegant and imposing. 

And detail also sets Gdansk apart. Detail in building decoration and structural.

These are drain spouts!
The C14 crane is wooden, with brick pillars either side. It is operated by a hamster wheel. Actually a human man wheel! Destroyed in 1945 it was fully reconstructed including the mechanisms. It can lift 2 tons to 27m.
The former prison just got a new inmate.
Church of St Mary is the largest medieval brick built church in Europe. It really is taaaall! Lovely astronomical clock.
Modern developments along the river

Day 2 was a Shipyard free tour.

We rewalked the long market street, just as it is so beautiful. Then, we joined a free (tip based) walking tour of the Gdansk Shipyard.  The guide covered 2 main topics. This history of the ship yard and how the unions contributed to independence.

We saw where Dreadnaughts had been built, followed by groundbreaking turbine engine U-boats. It was the production of these that drew the Allies bombs. The shipyards had been Imperial German, Russian and stripped of all their technology by the Russians. So when independence came, production stopped. The main market, post war, had been merchant ships for Russia.  An attempt was made to revive the ship building, but now the site is largely derelict with small scale yacht building.

We heard how small local unions had been repressed. How after the 1950s, people stopped armed resistance.  How many people were either paid or blackmailed to work for the secret service. How in 1971, the government tried to put up food prices overnight by 20%. 1971, the government tried to put up food prices overnight by 20%. How rationing was reintroduced in 1981 due to food and transportation inefficiencies.   How if you were caught for being a member of a union, you were sacked, and there was no state support. How various uprisings were crushed with oversized force. How in 1980 Solidarity was born in Gdansk, but their demands were for the whole country.  This led to Solidarity being the first legal union. But then, having identified the union members, a year later Solidarity had to go underground and many members were imprisoned, certainly sacked.
A fascinating tour, especially given it is recent history.

This press was used for about 150 years.
Built in 1980 in honour of those killed during the 1970 strike, the monument is 30m from where the first 3 victims
Solidarity was the first union (illegal) to ask for nationwide reforms. This was their 21 demands.

So Gdasnk is definitely our top recommendation for a city break, followed by Tallinn. And it’s the main Amber centre … would have been a shame not to … yes, I’ve a fabulous new necklace. Always sweetened by a 50% for cash discount. Leave you to guess who played good cop and who played bad cop!

Interesting way to decorate the bathrooms.

Wolf’s Lair

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18/09/2023

An early start … we were on the road at 7.30. There was over 6 hours of driving ahead of us with a stop on the way … Hitler’s war time bunker complex. We had been told the Masurian Lakes were attractive, and had we not run out of days we, we would have stayed. Lots of water, trees and gentle undulations … perfect for exploring on bikes. We had noticed that as soon as we left Lithuania, the landscape became more interesting, i.e. less pancake iflat.

At the Wolf’s Lair we parked in the dedicated motorhome bays, with EHU. Not that we bothered connecting as, with the fridge not working, all we have that can go off is milk. It does … but only after 2 days. We had an early lunch as even J was hungry; he’d missed breakfast, and all we’d eaten was a packet of biscuits. Normally, I batch make and freeze soup so we can vary the flavours. The fridgeless state means I’m buying jars of soup. Bit of a lottery as to the flavour unless I Google translate them. They’re OK.

The audio guide was good. Another one that is gps triggered and tells you where to walk. Hilter and his wartime government lived and worked here from June 1941 to November 1944. And why here? It was part of East Prussia and was close to the Eastern Front. Far from roads and towns. Accessible only by rail and light aircraft. And why the Wolf’s Lair? Wolf was a self adopted nickname of Hilter.

Hitler arrived on June 24th 1941, two days after the start of Operation Barbarossa. At it’s peak over 2000 people lived and worked here. He spent 800 days here continuously at one point. The bunkers were expanded and reinforced mid 1944. The works were never completed due to the rapid advance of the Red Army. Hitler fled to Berlin.

Huge bunkers. The whole site was camouflaged with grass on roofs, fake trees and netting.
The whole complex is damaged, as sappers on January 1945, set huge bombs inside, leaving some walls leaning and massive concrete slabs with twisted metal.
Hitler’s office. Plain decor as he didn’t think he should live in luxury whilst soldiers were fighting. The bunkers were very unpleasant to live in. Airless with the noise of ventilation and artificial light.

There had been numerous attempts on Hilter’s life. He had food tasters in case of poisoning. The July 20th 1945 attempt nearly got him. Recognising that loosing the war was inevitable, a group of officers and civillians plotted. Staff officer Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg volunteered to carry a bomb hidden in a briefcase into one of the daily military briefings usually held in the bunkers, in the hope that the heavy reinforcements of the bunkers could be turned against the Führer through the shockwave of the blast reverberating off the heavily reinforced walls of the room and certainly killing him.

However, on the day of the planned assassination, the location of the meeting was unexpectedly changed to a light brick hut due to Hitler’s complaints about the immense heat within the bunkers that day. This change in venue, along with other factors, such as Hitler unexpectedly calling the meeting earlier than anticipated, would contribute to the eventual failure of the plot. Despite this change in plans, Stauffenberg went ahead with carrying out the plot. He carried the briefcase containing the bomb into the conference hut, making a request to be placed close to Hitler on grounds that he had trouble hearing due to his injuries sustained while fighting in North Africa, which would ensure that the bomb would be close enough to Hitler to be effective.

The bomb exploded at precisely 12:42 p.m., with Stauffenberg having excused himself from the meeting a few minutes before. The interior of the building was devastated, four officers were injured and would later die of their wounds but Hitler was only slightly injured. This was due to the fact that one of the other officers present at the meeting had, for his own comfort, moved the briefcase from where it had been put by Stauffenberg close to Hitler and placed it against one of the legs of the solid oak table being used for the meeting. The result of this innocent action was that the thick, heavy table absorbed most of the blast and this, along with the collapse of some of the hut’s thin walls thus dissipating the shockwave, saved the Führer‘s life. Four men died from the bomb. Most of the conspirators were shot.

The conference centre where the assassination attempt was made
Goring inspecting the damage

There was a display about the Warsaw Uprising. Angered by the attempt on his life, Hilter ordered the complete destruction of the city and population.

It is doubtful that the Allies knew of the location as it was never bombed. Indeed, the Russian army only stumbled on it as they advanced west.

Another longish drive to Gdansk. We re-routed after a 10k stretch of shocking road where I was down to 25mph. Fortunately, we were driving into Gdansk as the roads leaving were completely stationary. It was like Operation Stack: mostly trucks with a few cars. Note to self, leave Gdansk late. Very late.